Sources:
- Economic Policy Institute. “Family Budget Calculator,” Enter “Gregory County, South Dakota,” “2 adults,” and “no children” for data.
Investopedia
January 13, 2026
More recently, an Economic Policy Institute study (2023) found that significant shares of older workers ages 50–70 experience difficult working conditions. These include environmental hazards (54.2%), difficult schedules (53.7%), high-pressure jobs (46.1%), limited autonomy (45.9%), and adverse social interactions (14.1%). Strikingly, 50.3% of older workers engage in at least one physical activity that can lead to injury.
Psychology Today
January 13, 2026
The previous H-2A workers’ minimum wage was $18.83 an hour. Under the Trump administration’s new guidelines, announced in October, the minimum wage will be lowered to about $16 an hour.
More than 380,000 migrant workers collectively are expected to lose between $4.4 billion to $5.4 billion in wages annually under the new guidelines, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Under the prior rules, it was illegal for workplaces to charge H-2A workers rent for housing; the Trump administration’s new rules open the door for employers to charge H-2A workers rent for housing.
Documented NY
January 13, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute said in a Jan. 9 blog post that the industry has lost jobs every month over the last eight months. April was when President Donald Trump’s tariff policies entered the financial markets.
Manufacturing Dive
January 13, 2026
Some labor advocates and economists say the rule change would push wages down for both U.S. and foreign farmworkers. The Economic Policy Institute estimates the revised wage methodology could reduce total U.S. farmworker pay by about $3 billion a year—roughly 9% of total wages.
Forbes
January 13, 2026
A total of 19 states increased their minimums in 2026, each of them landing between $10 an hour and $18 an hour. Nationwide, at least 30 states as well as Washington, D.C., have minimum wages that exceed the federal minimum, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank.
Restaurant Dive
January 13, 2026
A living hourly wage for a single adult varies by city. In Houston, which is on the low end, the Economic Policy Institute puts it at $21.56, while it rises to $26.81 in Los Angeles and $33.58 in New York. For a family of four supported by one full-time worker, it takes $45.72 in Houston, $62.55 in Los Angeles and $70.69 in New York.
The factors that go into calculating a living wage vary among those who conduct such analyses, and the Economic Policy Institute acknowledges that “there is no one-size-fits-all blueprint” for such a standard. Doing so also involves policy judgments, such as “how much families should rely only on wages to make ends meet” versus tapping other resources, including public ones.
San Antonio Express-News
January 12, 2026
A 2021 study from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank, charted productivity versus compensation in the United States, one of the world’s most prominent industrialized nations. According to that study, policy choices have led directly to a pronounced divergence between productivity and typical workers’ pay.
Investopedia
January 12, 2026
Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about the states and localities that are increasing their wage floors to at least $15 per hour for some or all employees misstated a claim in a report by the Economic Policy Institute. The report said that there will be more workers living in states with at least a $15 minimum wage this year than in states where the wage is $7.25. It did not say 2026 will be the first year that more Americans earn a minimum wage of at least $15 than earn a wage of $7.25.
New York Times
January 12, 2026
To put all of this in perspective: An estimated 26 million workers are paid less than $17 per hour, roughly 18% of the US workforce, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Yahoo Finance
January 12, 2026